Sarah submitted the idea and won 8oz of her own custom blend
idea.The initial description that won
over voters was: Strawberry Rhubarb Delight pairs rhubarb and strawberry
together with Golden Assam to capture the essence of Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.
The fruit notes combine with the richness of the Assam to produce a delightful
dessert tea as comforting as warm pie, fresh from the oven.

Here is how we describe the tea now: Ruby Pie is designed to taste similar to
strawberry rhubarb pie.The pie crust
notes are immediately noticeable followed by rhubarb and lingering fresh
strawberry and vanilla notes.Hibiscus
adds a hint of tartness to supplement the rhubarb notes but does not overwhelm
the tea.Adding some sugar will
intensify the strawberry and rhubarb notes while still maintaining the pie
crust notes.

After the contest was over, we embarked on a several month
journey to create Sarah’s ideal Ruby Pie blend.This tea is just now being made available for at least a limited
time.This tea can be purchased here: http://www.butikiteas.com/Black.html.Below is a short interview with Sarah and discusses
her love of tea, the blend, and the contest.

Tell us a little bit about yourself. I'm a Canadian, living
in Toronto but originally from out west. I miss my mountains *sigh* I've only
been doing this whole tea thing for 9 months or so - long enough to have a baby
tea obsession! :) My other passions besides tea involve board games, travelling
and as long as there's music i'm good to dance and make a fool of myself!

When did you first become interested in loose leaf teas?
I've been interested in loose tea for a while now - probably 6 years or so
thanks to a dear friend in Florida, but I never really made the plunge until I
found Steepster last July.

What are your tea preferences? I find that I am deeply in
love with black teas, whether they are straight or flavoured! I'm gradually
venturing into other things like puerhs and roasted oolongs. I don't mind
greens and whites (or yellow) but i find them less intense than my blacks! I
drink 95% of my teas without any additives but i do enjoy the occasional
sweetened cup of cold brewed tea.

What are your tea rituals? Right now, I don't have a lot of
tea rituals, unless you count getting together with tea friends as often as
possible. I do have a gaiwan that I recently purchase from Stacy! That I am
using to gradually use tea as a means to force myself to sit and take time away
from the craziness. other than that, I suppose it's my morning weekday matcha
smoothie that I take to work nearly everyday with my two travel mugs of tea -
always one straight black and one flavoured :)

If you were banished to an island, what type of tea would
you bring if you could chose only one? Uh...do i have to answer that? Eesh...I
feel like this is a trick question. How about one that could multiply and make
little tea babies for me so I never run out? :) I guess it would have to be
either Premium Taiwanese Assam or Laoshan Black at the moment, though I can't
promise that tomorrow that won't get a different answer.

What is your favorite tea from Butiki Teas? Why? I have no
favourites! I hate Favourites. Mine change depending on a multitude of factors
ranging from whether or not I've been able to watch Doctor Who, to the position
of the sun in the sky. It would be FAR easier for me to tell you which teas I'm
not a fan of...green oolongs, I'm looking at you! I'm a huge fan of your
Premium Taiwanese Assam but I also really love Grapefruit Dragon, Cantaloupe
& Cream; Maple Pecan Oolong (it's not green!); Creamy Eggnog; Mango Lassi
uh..the list goes on!

How did you come up with the idea for Ruby Pie? To be
honest? I'll enter any and every Butiki Tea contest out there. When this one
came up I didn't have a lot of time to sit and be nearly as creative as
everyone else was. I opened my fridge and there was one sitting there. So I
went for it!

You also submitted two other tea ideas, Whiskey Sour and
Pomegranate Grapefruit tea. Which of the three was your favorite? Probably the
strawberry rhubarb, but I also think that you'd make a mean whiskey sour. Also,
given the awesome Grapefruit Dragon you have....i think you could kill a
pomegranate tea.

Were you surprised that the Ruby Pie won? uh....that would
be like saying I was surprised at my ability to annoy people into doing what I
want. :) Yes, but only because I thought there would be more votes. Less so if
I think about the people I harassed to help me win *grin*.

Can you tell us a little bit about the custom blending
process? Well, if people like the blend, it's 90% you doing all the heavy
lifting, if they don't...it was all my fault haha. From a logistical
perspective, Stacy does a great job working with even the most difficult of
people who give her instructions like uh...it should have strawberry....and
rhubarb and be like uh pie. :) I pretty much answered all of her questions in
the most vague and probably irritatingly frustrating way possible. Once that
was out of the way she took over and created a couple of sample batches for me
to try. Those were sent to my place and it was left to my incapable hands to
taste and provide feedback. Again, vague statements like "uh...it needs
more pie" helped Stacy to refine her blend. It's at this point that I
should mention that even though she's allergic to strawberries, she was tasting
and refining the blend! Talk about dedication! Stacy perfected the batch and
then sent me a giant bag of delicious goodness!

How did you come up with the name Ruby Pie? I wish I could
take credit for that but once again, I had no part in it! That was all
Indigobloom as I asked her, Raritea and Kittenna for some help and gave my
favourite choices to Stacy to pick from :)

How would you describe this tea? It's Strawberry...it's
RHUbarb! it's PIE! does that count? haha

Who would you recommend this tea to? Anyone looking for a
flavoured black strawberry, rhubarb tea, as most that I've seen have been
either white or rooibos! The hibiscus in this one isn't very present, so hibby
haters shouldn't be afraid! :)

We had a great time creating this tea! We hope you enjoy this tea as much as we enjoyed creating it!

About Me

My taste for tea started at an early age. As a child, I would frequently enjoy a cup of tea with my family. Tea has always been a significant part of my life, through all the challenges and all the accomplishments and celebrations. Naturally, I became interested in the variety of high quality teas and the very culture that encompasses tea. Today, I want to share my passion and love of tea through Butiki Teas.